In the Clouds

Health


The first site that I chose to was Remix Learning.  This website looked particularly interesting to me because you can take the cloud computing and customize it for certain educational purposes that are interactive for both the student and teacher.   It is a social learning network that can allow computers to link up in class, but also have it for out of class assignments as well.  It could also fit easily in a K-12 or collegiate setting.  This website certainly brings education into a new ear with how materials are delivered to the students. 

My second website that I chose to keep was Justbeamit.  It is very simple in context and in design.  This website allows the users to send files across the internet via links.  One user loads the materials to be sent then shares this with others, the other users then hit the link that was shared and instantly have the materials that were loaded by the original user.  I think this could help both students and professionals in the future.  I thought of 2 examples on how this could be handy. 
     Example 1- If students collaborate on a Wiki they could beam certain documents to them with a link.  They now have access to any forms or documents that couldn't neccesarily be uploaded in the Wiki.
     Example 2-  A student forgets to bring the document to class and quickly calls a sibling or parent (who is tech savvy) and has them beam the presentation or files instantly through the link.  Now the student has the document to hand in or present. 

My third website that I chose was the Muchenough.  I really liked this website because I could potentially use this for educational and money purposes.  This site allows users who have "expertise" in certain areas to record themselves via webcam and teach lessons on a variety of topics.  The kicker comes from the ability to make money off of this.  Some lessons were in excess of $50 for an hour (minus fees of course).  I could easily record myself in the classroom and throw it on that website for some side cash in the future.  As for education, if these "lectures" could be expanded upon with teachers and professionals in the field they can easily help people master technical skills, gain new knowledge, or maybe get help learning an istrument for music class.  Plus those people get paid to teach.  Since I feel that many of the classrooms will be going to online versions in the future it can be an easy way to expand the knowlegde base of the students. 

My investigations this week has lead me to believe that there are a few ways that all of the cloud computing can affect teaching and learning.  First off, the use of tags or tag clouds can enhance the lectures that are being given to the students.  If a teacher asks the students a question related to the male reproductive system, those tags can make it easier and quicker for students to find the information and report back (assuming there are computers in the room).  The downside to this is, not all the information that was tagged is reliable and not all the tags go to the specific topics that might be looked at, i.e. "male" "repoductive" "system" tags might give you stereo systems, male gorillas, and reproductive organs of a worm.  This is not effective in finding exactly what the task at hand was.  I also think that the social bookmarking is very effective in keeping materials that were looked up.  My thoughts purely go for the research aspect of both my students and myself.  I already thought about keeping any articles that I might find via pdf and keep it on my Diigo account for future reference.  Being able to organize and label my articles can significantly help me out with my research for papers.  My students could benefit from this as well because you never have to worry about the website being lost since it automatically stores the information.  I feel that using these tools effectively within the classroom can help both the student and instructor. 

Although I am hesitant sometimes about these newer technologies this class has already opened my eyes to different techniques in bringing them to my own classroom. 

Blogging & Twittering

After reading the articles and watching the videos for this week, I feel that I have learned quite a bit about blogging and twittering.  I never realized that people with expertise or passions about a topic could create such a network with a common interest.  This was very difficult to do 20 years ago and has opened my mind about both.

Blogging was never really important to me and I remember when it the scene because many of my friends had started their own.  It almost seemed like the "hipster" thing to do if you wanted people to know about your private life.  After this lesson, my mind has changed slightly about the value of blogs and it's purely for educational purposes.  It certainly allows students to collaborate on a class project where you don't have to be in "class" because they could follow other bloggers with similiar interests to gain more knowledge.  I feel like this has and will continue to change how we integrate online mediums into the classroom. 

Twitter completely took me by surprise and I have to say that I was REALLY shocked that I had to start an account for the class.  Social medias like Facebook already consume my time and I didn't want to add another one.  After watching the videos about Twitter and how certain "trends" can be used as an advantage, it made me think a little bit about my profession of public health and how breaking news could be transmitted with 140 characters.  As for educational purposes, Twitter certainly can help people out if you post a question that may be stumping you.  In one of the examples given to us for the readings, a person posed a question on Twitter and it was answered within 10 minutes with websites and references.  I think if we want to have students research topics for papers, they have an easy reference to a world of people on Twitter.  My network is slightly different that the rest of the class I can assume, but I chose Public Health to follow.  After follwing a few big name organizations like American Public Health Association (APHA) there were some pretty good articles and relevant news, which is keeping me in the loop with up to date information.  I can get on board with Twitter and all they have to offer, now I just need to start "tweeting".

-Derek